The conference began with an address from Steve Andrews, the UK’s representative to the European Union’s Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Technical Advisory Committee (TAC). Speakers from Albermarle Corporation, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett Packard, Texas Instrument and IBM Corporation were also present.

As a bonus, this proceedings includes the synchronized audio with the presentation slides for two presentations: Flame Retardants — Fire Safety, Regulatory Status, and Sustainability by Susan Landry, advisor, fire safety & advocacy, Albermarle Corporation and Materials Declaration, What’s New with IEC and IPC-1752 by Mark Frimann, SCQ — Product Stewardship, Texas Instruments

Released December 2009.

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Last month, the recast of the European Union (EU) Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) took an unpleasant, although expected, turn. In November, I traveled to Brussels to attend a conference in the European Parliament on “Greening consumer electronics — from hazardous materials to sustainable solutions.” The event was hosted by RoHS Rapporteur (discussion leader) Jill Evans and organized with the environmental non-governmental organization (NGO) Chemsec.

What was unexpected was the support of key industry leaders for the regulatory restriction of additional substances under RoHS. Consumer electronics companies Apple and Sony Ericsson have publicly backed calls by NGOs and the European Parliament’s Environment Committee for a ban on all halogenated substances to be included in the recast of the RoHS Directive in electrical and electronic equipment. Grace O’Malley, European operations manager for the International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (iNEMI), stated industry’s support for the expansion of RoHS, stating that RoHS was “helpful in focusing industry in this area.” Although other OEMs including Dell, Intel, Philips, Acer, HP and LG Electronics have not come out in support of the changes to RoHS, their public commitments to remove brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) from their products are being construed as support of the proposal to ban halogens in electronics.

Although a few speakers, including myself, raised the issue of needing to make decisions based on sound science, along with the need to avoid undermining REACH by taking a position that puts RoHS in conflict with REACH, it was mostly a one-sided event.

Following the conference, I met with several Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) who are leading the RoHS debate. I pointed out that substances should be assessed individually rather than by generic bans and that many of the substances being discussed had passed EU risk assessments. I also said that concerns regarding the disposal of electronics containing halogens had a broad number of environmental concerns that would not be addressed by removing halogens and that the EU should instead work to prevent improper incineration of electronics in developing countries. Most of the MEPs I met with appeared to have already decided to support the ban of halogens.

Proposals for recasting the Directive have recently been published by the Parliament’s rapporteur, Jill Evans, in the form of an Environment Committee draft report. The draft report says the list of prohibited substances should be increased to cover all brominated and chlorinated flame retardants, PVC, chlorinated plasticisers and three phthalates. A second group of substances — arsenic compounds, beryllium and its compounds, antimony trioxide, dinickel trioxide, bisphenol A, and organochlorines and organobromines other than flame retardants or plasticisers — should be assessed in the next recast of the Directive as candidates for prohibition. The European Parliament’s Environment Committee is expected to begin discussion in January with a plenary vote in the Parliament planned for April.

Report submitted by Fern Abrams, IPC Director of Government Relations and Environmental Policy

For more information: Jill Evans proposal for RoHS reform (.pdf)

IPC position paper: http://www.ipc.org/rohs-position(.pdf)

Read the article and decide for yourself.

Answered by IPC Director - Government Relations & Environmental Policy, Fern Abrams
Originally posted 9/14/09

IPC hosted its first OEM Summit at APEX EXPO last week. Panelists included Martin Rausch, GM, System Manufacturing, Intel; Kitty Pearsall, Ph.D., DE, ISC Procurement Engineering, IBM; and Michael Roesch, Manager, Reliability and Test Engineering, Global Engineering Services, Hewlett-Packard.

The discussion varied from halogen-free to quality management to material reliability. Each speaker gave insight to challenges facing supply chain relationships today. One message was clear: the supply chain must work together to meet everyone’s goals.

Here are a few takeaways from the session:

1. Each participant in the supply chain has very different interests. Acknowledge the interests of your supply chain before starting a relationship, then set expectations.
2. Environmental issues such as the transition to halogen-free put pressure on the supply chain. Industry should work together to: Identify technology readiness, supply chain capability, as well as the reliability characteristics for BFR-free alternatives, and define the technical limits for all BFR-free materials across all market segments.
3. OEMs need to influence industry standards, standards must be enforced throughout the entire supply chain, and standards should evolve along as technology changes.
4. In today’s environment, there are many qualified suppliers. Engage with your OEMs, show them your strengths, produce reliable and quality work and become or remain an actual supplier.

What’s keeping your supply chain relationships strong?